[1]. The CF Extension displays a red 'X' icon during the bootup stage.
This means that the INIT code couldn't accomplish some or all of its tasks. Please double check to ensure that your system configuration satisfies all of the requirements listed in the Installation section above. Also, please ensure that there aren't any duplicate CF Extension files present in your active System Folder.
This could also be caused by one of the usual tiresome conflicts with another CP or system extension (including drivers for USB, FireWire or other types of peripherals such as mice, trackballs, keyboards, scanners, printers or disk drives). Try rebooting with just the standard Mac OS 'Base' or 'All' extensions-set (e.g., via Apple's Extensions Manager CP), to see if the problem persists.
Note that you'd probably also need to turn the CF CP's Master control back 'On', as in many of these cases it would have been automatically turned 'Off'.
[2]. Your Mac crashes during or soon after the bootup stage, or when you try to open or close any window.
It is possible that some other system-enhancing software is severely conflicting with the CF utility. Please see item [1] above.
Also, if you're running under OS 8.5.x—8.6, please update to CF version 1.0.1 or later.
Another possibility is that there is a serious bug in the CF utility which has unfortunately escaped our notice. :-( Please see item [8] below.
[3]. The CF CP window has blank areas or looks garbled, or you get an "Out of memory" alert dialogue, or the CP simply crashes upon launch.
These symptoms are typically caused by insufficient memory.
Also, if you're running under OS 8.5.x—8.6, there is a known Finder-related issue with the first version (1.0) of the CF utility that could lead to constant crashes. The issue is resolved in CF version 1.0.1 and later.
Note that, in CF version 1.0.1 and later, the CP is a regular application so you could try bumping up its preferred memory size via the 'Get Info' window in the Finder.
[4]. The CF CP suddenly reverts to default prefs, or displays "{*** UNKNOWN LOCATION ***}" in the path display area.
This behaviour is typically caused by a corrupt CF preferences file, or by your attempt to use an alias to a CF prefs file instead of a "real" CF prefs file; or, by an "invalid" Alias Cache folder {please see the description of error 9021 in item [6] below}.
This can also occur if the CF Preferences file was created by a version of the CF CP or CF Extension that's newer than the one currently installed.
[5]. You are occasionally confronted with an annoying server-login dialogue (or disk-insertion prompt) at unexpected times {e.g., when unmounting a remote or ejectable volume}, and then the volume immediately remounts if you accept. {Or, if you cancel, CF will report an error such as -128 and turn itself 'Off' (see the next item [6])}. Even worse, if you are using the OS 9 Keychain feature to auto-login, the remote volume would silently remount!
Please update to CF version 1.0.1 or later, where this glitch is fixed.
[6]. You get a rude notification alert dialogue (or floating window under OS 9) from the CF Extension, or an alert dialogue from the CF CP, which begins with: "Sorry, Closed Folders encountered a FATAL error: error-number . CF has now turned itself 'Off'.. ".
This means that the CF Extension, or CF CP, has run into a severe problem and has therefore deactivated itself — i.e., it has directly updated (or tried to update) the CF prefs file to set the Master control to 'Off'. Here are the meanings of some of the error-numbers that might be displayed:-
-1075 to -1066
-1024 to -1029:
The first range represents low-level Name-Binding Protocol (NBP) errors, and the second range represents low-level AppleTalk Session Protocol (ASP) errors. These kinds of errors usually indicate that the volume to which a closing folder window belongs is no longer online. Unfortunately, this often occurs with Apple's iDisk volumes when they have been sent offline due to an expired time-limit.
-128:
This is a general "user cancelled" error. It occurs only under the circumstances described in item [5] above.
(+)9000 to (+)9100:
These are our own Closed Folders errors. The meaning of each is as follows:-
9010 The CF preferences could not be understood. This usually indicates mismatched versions of the CF CP and CF Extension.
9011 The CF preferences are corrupt. Try throwing away the CF prefs file, then using the CF CP to recreate a fresh one. The CP will also automatically inform the CF Extension, and all should be well. {NOTE: As mentioned in item [4] above, CF might also quietly revert to default prefs if corruption is detected, without signalling this error.}
9021 The Alias Cache folder is "invalid" in some way. For instance, there might somehow be a file (with the same name as the Alias Cache folder) which is now occupying its place. Or, the "parent" volume of the Alias Cache folder could be unavailable.
9022 An alias file couldn't be created for a closing folder window. This could be due to any number of reasons, such as lack of disk space, etc.
9023 The Alias Cache folder could not be moved/copied into its new home (or deleted from its old home). Again, this could be due to any number of reasons, such as lack of disk space, etc.
[7]. Some of your folders whose windows have been closed (and tracked by CF) have Finder attributes suh as a label-colour or custom-icon, but these are never reflected in the alias files created by CF.
This is indeed an issue with the current version of the CF utility. Please see the Known Problems section below.
[8]. You've already tried all the above suggestions, or there's a different problem.
When all else fails, or if all hell breaks loose after installing or when using the software, please contact us via the e-mail address shown in the header of this 'Closed Folders Read Me' document. Do provide as many details as you believe to be relevant about your hardware model & configuration (e.g., amount of RAM installed), OS version, and any third-party control panels or system extensions (including peripheral drivers), etc.
Known Problems
• CF does not currently propagate the Finder attributes (such as a label-colour or custom-icon) of a closing or "target" folder to the corresponding alias file which it creates. This was avoided due to occasional issues with retrieving the custom icons of remote folders; it will hopefully be implemented in a future version.
• Although CF supports Mac OS 9's Multiple Users (MU) configurations, it does not work with Panels users. CF works only with Owners (system-access users), Normal users and Limited users. [This is simply because, for Panels users, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) "shell is not the Finder but rather the Panels application.] In addition, unless you're using Apple's Macintosh Manager Security Bypass extension, CF's default alias-cache home [i.e., the active Apple Menu Items (AMI) folder] will not work for Limited users. Unfortunately, MU does not normally provide Limited users with write-access privileges for their own AMI folders (!), so if they wish to use CF they must choose a custom location for the alias-cache. (An Owner or administrator would thus also need to grant access for the CF CP to each Limited user. After a Limited user has logged in and selected a custom home folder, the administrator could then log in under a suitably privileged account and manually place an alias for that custom home folder into the Limited user's AMI folder.)
• The BOA portion of the CF Extension currently does nothing, and thus unnecessarily consumes about 2K of extra disk space — i.e., the BOA code simply quits immediately, upon being launched by the Process Manager near the end of the bootup stage. For details, please see the separate 'CF Extension Technical Details' document.
